“…Recent phylogeographic studies of arctic‐alpine plant species have revealed that their genetic variation is typically highly structured due to several major geographic barriers that facilitated range separation (17 species, Eidesen et al., ; Silene acaulis , Gussarova et al., ). A few studies have estimated that major lineages within arctic‐alpine plants diverged prior to the middle Pleistocene ( Saxifraga oppositifolia , Abbott, ; Abbott & Comes, ; Vaccinium uliginosum , Alsos, Engelskjøn, Gielly, Taberlet, & Brochmann, ; Oxyria dygina , Wang et al., ), consistent with Hultén's () hypothesis of an early Pleistocene origin of their circumarctic ranges. However, several phylogeographic studies also suggest that some arctic‐alpine plants are capable of extensive long‐distance dispersal ( V. uliginosum , Alsos et al., ; Cassiope tetragona , Eidesen, Carlsen, Molau, & Brochmann, ; Saxifraga rivularis , Westergaard, Jørgensen, Gabrielsen, Alsos, & Brochmann, ), even from Alaska to southern South America ( Empetrum , Popp, Mirre, & Brochmann, ).…”